Sightseeing In New York City

New York City

Central Park

The city that has my heart! I don’t know what draws me to New York but I absolutely love it. Part of me things its the anonymity of such big city. I also feel like New York is the city where anything can happen and there is SO much to do all of the time. I have been 3 times now and have only seen a handful of the things I want to see and do so I guess I will just have to keep going back until I’ve seen them all!

To be honest I think if we didn’t have the restaurant I would have probably went and spent a year there.

The High Line

No matter what city/holiday I go on I research the whole thing until I am blue in the face. When I am looking things up I always keep a pen and paper beside me so that I can jot down anything that is of interest so I don’t forget about it.

Once I have a list of things to do and see I then check out which area each activity/thing to do is in and then split them up into their similar areas. I find that in a big city such as New York that if you split things up into areas it stops you from having to go up and down the city each day to see things which saves time for more sightseeing. 🙂

I walk everywhere on city breaks – I average about 10-15 miles per day.

On my last trip I went in November and honestly it was so pretty in Central Park. You’ll be able to see from my photos just how beautiful the colours were as none of my photos have been edited.

Below you can see part of my ‘things to do list’, I have seperated all the activities into their complimenting areas. I carried this about with me the whole time I was there to ensure that we always knew what we were at. The ticks mean that we completed it and the x’s then mean we didn’t.

1 side of our sightseeing list

This is the concierge map we used to map out our route each day! It was great for referring back to whenever we needed it. New York works as a grid system so its quite difficult to get lost! ha

Obviously I am not totally obsessive when it comes to seeing everything because sometimes my lists are so long it would be totally unrealistic to see and do everything but I do like to make an effort to tick my favourites off first☑️

My favourite things to do in New York;

Walk/Cycle Central Park – this was my first time cycling Central Park, I have been wanting to do it from my first trip but it was sooo worth the wait! It was absolutely fab! I also love to walk around Central park and visit all the quirky areas like the Alice In Wonderland Statue.

Viewing Points – I have been to the One World Trade Centre, Empire State & The Rockerfella Centre viewing points. If I was to do it again I would choose Rockerfella for uptown viewing and then One World Trade Centre for downtown.

From the One World Trade Centre

Walking – This is my favourite thing to do on any trip. I just walk and walk and walk some more. I find that you see more of the city this way, you come across knooks and crannys you wouldn’t necessarily have come across.

Just look at those colours behind me!! ❤

Listen For The Sirens – It is something that you hear all the time whilst in New York but their emergency services sirens are quite different from ours. They are fascinating to listen to.

Walk the Brooklyn Bridge – I done this in November for the 1st time and it was fantastic. It is 1 mile long but you wouldn’t notice. I absolutely loved walking across it and the scenery and skyline is just something else.

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Grand Central Station – What a fantastic building. Make sure to visit the Whispering Gallery, its an area in Grand Central where you stand opposite each and speak to the wall and the other person can here you. Kyle was sceptical but it really does work

Washington Square Park – I have waited ages to see the arch! The park full with families, children and tourists. It was lovely to sit and watch the world go by in such a scenic setting. Get yourself a coffee and take 10.

9/11 Memorial – The site is absolutely amazing. It is unfortunate that something so scenic had to come out of something so terrible. I visit the memorial area each time I go to NYC and this time the One World Trade Centre observation area was open so we got great views up there.

With so many things to see and do in NY these are only a few of my favourites. I want to make a point the next time I visit to take the train out to Long Island and go towards The Hamptons. I also want to take the Rossevelt Island Tram – I seen it on an episode of Law & Order and have wanted to do it ever since.

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Food

The one thing I don’t like about city breaks is the hassle of finding food. There are restaurants everywhere you look so finding somewhere isn’t hard but trying to get somewhere that suits everyone is a totally different matter! If you have a boyfriend/girlfriend you’ll probably know all about it! 😉

For breakfast I found a cafe beside our hotel called Friedman’s. It is on 121 W 31st Street. It was so busy in the mornings so I knew it was going to be a good place.

For lunch we grabbed something small wherever we happened to be. Usually a slice of pizza 🙂 On the day we were in Brooklyn we found a place called Cecconi’s in Dumbo, at first we thought it was a bit swanky for us as we can be plainish eaters but the food was absolutely beautiful. I would highly recommend and the views are pretty good of the Hudson river and both bridges.

Tao – Uptown – we tried Tao on the recommendation of a friend. We were so looking forward to it because we both love Asian fusion food but neither of us where overly impressed. It will also set you back a pretty penny! It was great for an experience but I wouldn’t go again.

Harrington’s Bar & Grill, Madison Square Garden – this restaurant was directly across from our hotel so after walking for miles each day this was a perfect place for us to dine a few times without having walk more ;). The food was fine and the alcohol reasonably priced especially for the area.

If you are thinking of going to NY I would suggest asking your concierge for restaurant recommendations as this will save you a lot of time walking about and checking menus.

My Tips for New York

Bring lots of money

Try to visit for as long as possible to get the most out of it

Walk & explore – you will see so much more than if you take the subway

Bring VERY comfortable footwear

Research what you would like to do before you go

Try something new

If you drink tea, have a Dunkin’ Donuts breakfast tea it is delicious

Visit a pet shop – you can play with the puppy’s that are for sale ❤

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I hope you enjoyed my round up and pictures. If you’ve been before and know of places to see/do that I haven’t mention do let me know because I will note them down in the hope that I visit again 🙂

If there is anything you would like to ask me about New York also let me know and I’ll do my best to answer any questions.